Attackers kill 18 in attack on city hall in southern Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities say attackers have gunned down a mayor, his father and 16 others in the southern state of Guerrero. Later Wednesday, in the neighboring state of Morelos, a state lawmaker was shot to death in the city of Cuernavaca south of Mexico City. While attacks on public officials are not uncommon in Mexico, these come at a time when the security strategy of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is being sharply debated. The president has placed tremendous responsibility in the armed forces rather than civilian police for reining in Mexico’s persistently high levels of violence.